A man holds a Jucil banner against Núñez Feijóo at the police demonstration in Madrid last May.Jesús Hellín (Europa Press)
The General Directorate of the Guardia Civil has forwarded the message spread this Sunday on the social network to its legal teams, criticizing Pedro Sánchez for his defense of the amnesty for the defendants of the trial that he carried out this Saturday before the Federal Committee of the PSOE. It will be investigated whether the authors face any kind of disciplinary or even criminal liability, according to Interior Ministry sources. In the tweet launched by the official account of “Jucil Nacional”, this organization accompanies a 25-second video of the intervention of the incumbent government president with the text: “The greatest crime that can be committed against a nation is treason.” of those, who have the duty to defend it. The personal interest of an individual prevails over the freedom of the Spanish people.” Interior considers that the embassy “violates the principle of political neutrality that obliges all members of the Guardia Civil,” which is contained in the preamble and Article 5 of the Law on Security Forces and Corps from 1986 is included.
It is the first time that the Interior Ministry has taken action against the leaders of a professional association of the Civil Guard or a police union for what they consider to be political statements, although sources in the armed institute assure that “they have demanded responsibility for it”. “Certain associations, which have repeatedly exceeded the limits of trade union defense, believe that they are some kind of political actor, confusing the legitimate purposes of their activity and corrupting the values of the Civil Guard.” In fact, the Ministry has noted with concern the existing harmony between the messages of Jucil and the Police Justice union (Jupol, majority in the National Police) and those of PP and Vox, whose leaders followed the calls of the police and police organizations. Occasionally they were cheered by the participants.
Agustín Leal, spokesman for Jucil, denies that the message – which had 10,200 views, 316 retweets, more than 450 likes and fifty comments as of 7:20 p.m. – represents a violation of political neutrality. “We don’t do politics. As legally elected representatives of the Civil Guard, we make political criticism,” he said in a telephone conversation with EL PAÍS. Leal adds that the DG’s announcement that it will consider whether to apply will not “scare” them. Jucil’s spokesman emphasizes that his organization has the right to “exercise political criticism.” “The civil guards also vote,” he adds. Leal recalls that they have criticized not only the two governing parties PSOE and Unidas Podemos – they, together with the police union Justicia Policial, were supporters of demonstrations in Madrid against the reform of the so-called gag law – but also the PP and its current leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, against whom they distributed posters during their last protest in the capital on May 6th.
On October 28, 2021, Jucil became the majority association in the Council of the Civil Guard by obtaining, in the elections held that day, six of the 16 positions reserved for the representation of agents in this negotiating body with the Ministry of the Interior. The organization that emerged from the Police Salary Justice platform (Jusapol, born 2017), which brought thousands of National Police and Civil Guard agents to the streets to demand equal pay as the Mossos, was unveiled for the first time. With this victory, he followed in the footsteps of the Jupol union in the National Police, which also emerged from Jusapol and won the majority in this body in the June 2019 elections, a position that it reconfirmed this year, albeit with significantly less support after being rocked by scandals over alleged internal corruption.
Since the founding of Jusapol, the demonstrations called by this platform have been massive and included the presence of prominent leaders from Ciudadanos, PP, Vox and, in its early days, Podemos. His tough speech against the government (which, in addition to street protests, also included legal complaints and demands for his resignation) found a spokesman in Congress in the party of Santiago Abascal, which has repeatedly defended its main demand: new salary increases with the Mossos achieving what they call “real salary compensation ” to name. However, the three organizations (Jusapol, Jucil and Jupol) have always rejected any connection to Vox and defended their apolitical nature, although some of their members have publicly expressed their proximity to the right-wing extremist formation. Recently, a police officer who was elected on the lists submitted to the Police Council by Jupol together with another union left that position to join the faction of Abascal’s party as an advisor.
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